Change a life. Change your own.

As Winston Churchill once said, “you make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.” This is exactly what the Sustainability team @ EMC aims at. We consider it a pleasure and a social responsibility to give back to the community we live in. And what better than provide a chance for the unfortunate kids to go to school, meet new people and get an understanding of life. The organization, that we are connected with, helps to bring in people with similar visions to donate money for the children’s education, healthcare & family counselling for a year. By giving them education, we are helping to build a “foundation”, which in turn helps in building the future of our nation. 

Here is the story of an interesting journey of an individual and a TEAM.

The beginning was interesting and someone caught me in the hallway and conveyed his opinion, which was that I could lead the initiative. God knows what he spotted in me? I was never inspired enough to get involved with a noble cause, neither did I think that I could inspire many more. I did my own little research, connected with friends who are extensively involved with charity and was convinced. I sponsored 1 child, which involved his education, healthcare & family counselling for a year. I connected with close friends and people I interact with, on a daily basis, to have detailed discussions. Everyone understood the importance of such initiatives, but no one responded positively to start with. Some of the common questions were if I were a volunteer, was I doing this because I was a volunteer and if I have sponsored a child myself. I had a win situation as I could proudly say that I had sponsored 1 child. Later, I targeted my immediate group of friends whom I regularly go on breaks with.

The story moved from “me” to “us” at this stage. VSD Hope & Care TEAM was born (the name was invented using the 1st letters of our names). This team sponsored 1 child. I probed the others a couple of times, had a few rounds of discussions and convinced some of the folks, who were not ready to individually contribute, to collectively donate as a team. When I took a sincere first step, I was really overwhelmed with the response I received. To my surprise, more people started inspiring each other and it was a wave and vision connecting a TEAM. The most surprising response was from two people, who sponsored 1 child each as well as contributed in teams. The overall number of contributors was 19 in a team of 52 members, more than one child sponsored by every three people. Based on the little experience we have, most of us want to give back to the society, but did not know how to pursue it due to the lack of awareness. A little nudge and an initial push is all it takes. Beyond that, things start flowing and like minded people form a TEAM and find their way. As Ratan Tata famously said “If you want to go fast, walk alone; but if you want to go far, walk as a TEAM”

Nobody becomes poor by giving. Here are a few of them who feel rich for the same reason: Chaithra Madan, Deenadayal Subbulakshmi, Dhanya Ragini, Hema Abhilash, Jose John Vellaniparambil, Kirti Singh, Nishikant Sinha, Sai SagarN, Samuel Gunasekaran, Sapan Kumar, Satya Chintham, Satyam Kumar, Shantanu Mishra, Subhasis Bandyopadhyay, Sushmita Dey, Vaibhav Lal, Vignya Sai.

As a TEAM, we would urge all of you, who want to help in some way, to attend/discuss about the Sponsor a Child program with the Sustainability team volunteers @ EMC, to know how much color you can add to a child’s life. 

Change a life. Change your own.